On Monday, the Seattle Mariners made a trade for Jorge Polanco in an attempt to sure up the second base hole, which has been a revolving door the past several seasons. We have seen players like Adam Frazier, Kolten Wong, Josh Rojas, Sam Haggerty, Jose Caballero and Dylan Moore all see their fair share of time at the position. Still, none of those options seem to lock down the position for the future.
For most of the offseason, Polanco has been a name on the Mariners trade watch. Unfortunately, trading for a guy who will contribute now comes at a hefty price. This trade cost the Mariners Justin Topa, who was a reliable arm in the bullpen in 2023. It’s not a huge deal knowing that the Mariners can develop nobodies into solid bullpen arms. See Paul Sewald, Kendall Graveman and even Topa. The Mariners also gave up Anthony DeSclafani, their No. 3 prospect Gabriel Gonzalez, and right-hander Darren Bowen.
Given the Mariners’ ability to develop arm talent, the most significant piece of this trade becomes Gonzalez. However, there’s a problem when it comes to him. He is a contact specialist who is limited to a corner-outfield spot. Given how many outfielders that the Mariners have, Gonzalez would not make the MLB in Seattle any time soon. After all, they still have Jonatan Clase, Jonny Farmelo, Lazaro Montes, Aidan Smith, Alberto Rodriguez, and Zach DeLoach as the outfielders left in the farm system.
The first on that list, Clase, is on the 40-man roster and has the potential to be a 20+ HR, 40+ SB caliber player. Montes has been compared to Yordan Alvarez. So clearly, the Mariners have a lot of talent at the outfield spot. The list of prospects doesn’t even include Julio Rodriguez, Cade Marlowe, Dominic Canzone, and Taylor Trammell, who are all still young.
The exit velocities and other metrics for Gonzalez didn’t take a step forward like was predicted, so the Mariners were likely okay with giving him up. Giving up Gonzalez likely doesn’t mean much other than it shows they’re willing to build their roster at the price of trading a few of the prospects.
